Overcast with an occasional burst of faded-yellow sunshine this Wednesday morning on California’s north coast — according to the NWS, a weak cold front and associated low pressure system is passing the region the next few days, but not carrying much rain, location the difference between ‘isolated‘ and ‘scattered‘ rain showers, which you can only say, ‘word.’

In locution of legalese, the big kick-off is today in San Francisco for the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA), as the initiative, which would permit recreational marijuana use for adults, has gathered more than 600,000 signatures, far more than the 365,000 needed to make the ballot box in November.
Supposedly, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom will conduct a press conference this afternoon to officially launch “Let’s Get It Right, California,” the campaign to make voters want to pass the AUMA.

(Illustration: ‘Cannabis and Politics,’ by Denis Marsili, found here).

Or at least pass the joint, and shut-the-fuck-up.
Via the Sacramento Bee:

The Adult Use of Marijuana Act would legitimize possession of 1 ounce of marijuana and cultivation of six marijuana plants for adults 21 and over.
It would impose a 15 percent excise tax on all retail sales, though localities could still ban marijuana sales in their jurisdictions.

There’s also a $100 fine of possessing more than an ounce, which we’ll just have to want-and-see how that plays.
This just another example in the changes for stoners in the last few years — the Cheech & Chong days are becoming beloved history. Now’s there growing near-mainstream, business in the pot life.
Another example of off-shoot — from SFGate last weekend:

Thirty-two companies, ranging from industry-focused magazines to dispensaries to cannabis-based data and technology startups, attended the Join the GreenRush event, searching for candidates to fill jobs as budtenders, cultivators, delivery drivers, marketers and even software developers –get the new PDF software support on SodaPDF–, in order to meet their expanding needs for workers as the market for legal marijuana continues to grow across California and several other states.
The event was the inaugural job fair for GreenRush, a technology and marketing company that connects already legal medical marijuana users with cannabis delivery systems, a sort of Eat24 of the marijuana industry.
“With cannabis as the nation’s fastest-growing industry, there are a large number of positions opening up that we need to fill,” said Jude Ignatius, event coordinator and director of operations at GreenRush.
“It’s an exciting venture.”
…
David Drake, CEO of Cannabis Reports, a cannabis data and technology company based in Berkeley, said he has seen no shortage of candidates for cannabis-focused tech jobs, an area of work in the industry people also might not typically think of.
These tech workers can build websites, develop cannabis-friendly applications and do much of the same work that is seen in other new companies.
“I’ve been overwhelmed,” Drake said.
“I had about 200 applications for one position within 48 hours of posting it online.”

Underwhelmed in the the price arena, however — from the Washington Post this morning:

Marijuana price data from Washington’s Liquor and Cannabis Board was aggregated by Steve Davenport of the Pardee RAND Graduate School and Jonathan Caulkins, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University.
After a transitory rise in the first few months, which Davenport attributes to supply shortages as the system came on line, both retail prices and wholesale prices have plummeted.
Davenport said that prices “are now steadily falling at about 2 percent per month. If that trend holds, prices may fall 25 percent each year going forward.”
…
How cheap can legal pot become? Says Caulkins, “It’s just a plant. There will always be the marijuana equivalent of organically grown specialty crops sold at premium prices to yuppies, but at the same time, no-frills generic forms could become cheap enough to give away as a loss leader – the way bars give patrons beer nuts and hotels leave chocolates on your pillow.”

Pot has changed, but it’s not what it’s made out to do — a good side to this off the late-great George Carlin and the sensible approach via a Playboy interview in January 1982:

Oh, I was a stonehead for 30 years.
I’d wake up in the morning and if I couldn’t decide whether I wanted a joint or not, I’d smoke a joint to figure it out.
And I stayed high all day long.
When people asked me, “Do you get high to go onstage?” I could never understand the question. I mean, I’d been high since eight that morning. Going onstage had nothing to do with it.
…
To my surprise, my marijuana use has been tapering off steadily. As we speak, I haven’t had a joint in two months.
…
Grass probably helped me as much as it hurt me.
Especially as a performer. When you’re high, it’s easy to kid yourself about how clever certain mediocre pieces of material are.
But, on the other hand, pot opens windows and doors that you may not be able to get through any other way.
Being a very bound-up, Irish Catholic tight-assholed person, I’ve often thought that whatever negative effects pot had on me, it probably saved me from being an alcoholic and a complete fucking brainless idiot by the time I was 25.
So I’d say pot has been a break-even proposition for me.

Word…